Caesar Brindle once believed in love. But the day he lost his wife, the only thing he felt was rage and despair. Plagued with guilt over taking her for granted, he nearly lost himself. The same fire was apparent in his daughter's eyes. Armed with the skills taught by her father, Shania finds a way to alleviate her pain. The two bond over the journey to heal together. But for some, their methods may be deadly.
Caesar Brindle once believed in love. But the day he lost his wife, the only thing he felt was rage and despair. Plagued with guilt over taking her for granted, he nearly lost himself. The same fire was apparent in his daughter's eyes. Armed with the skills taught by her father, Shania finds a way to alleviate her pain. The two bond over the journey to heal together. But for some, their methods may be deadly.
July 25, 2000 7:05am
“I’m getting off at 9. That’s 9PM sharp, Caesar.” Shayna said with slight annoyance as she grabbed her lunch box and gym bag from the back seat of her husband’s car.
The thought of being dropped off to work didn’t sit well with her. Having to depend on someone for her comings and goings, got under her skin, even if that someone was her husband.
Though she was set to leave work at 9, there were days when she could leave earlier. But working in a trauma hospital normally meant she would be there extremely late. Shayna enjoyed the freedom of being able to move around without having to wait on someone.
In addition to that, the trust that she once held for her husband had begun to slip. Caesar had committed transgressions that she hadn’t yet forgiven or forgotten. It seemed as if any time her car was on the fritz, Caesar’s massive third leg had a mind of its own.
Probably because he knew she couldn’t drive around and catch him. As of late, it seemed like her car was giving her more issues. If she hadn’t known any better, she would’ve assumed that he was tampering with her car just to get random pussy.
“Girl, stop tripping.” Shayna thought to herself as she shook the craziness and insecurity from her brain.
Even though Caesar was breaking her heart, she knew that he would never purposely break her property. Sadly, it was just time for a new car. The blown motor in her Volkswagen was proof of that.
Caesar knew that he was the cause of the irritation on Shayna’s face. He had done a lot in their time together. Things that she didn’t deserve. But he was just a man. Getting out the driver seat of his brand-new Isuzu Rodeo, Caesar swaggered all 5’11” of his slim muscular dark chocolate body over to his 5’5” wife. He hoped that what he was about to say would help fix the mess that he had created.
“Ceez, don’t-”
“All I really want to say my darling, today is a special day we call our own. So, take me in your arms and hold me. Tell me you love me, and I’ll be there.” Caesar sang, sounding exactly like Raphael Saadiq. Grabbing Shayna’s fingers, he kissed the tips before kissing her wedding ring.
“Smooth ass nigga.” Shayna thought.
She hated that her panties were now as wet as a puddle. She wanted to be angry, but she couldn’t be. Caesar was just too damn fine.
“Shay Bird, you’ve told me a million times when you’re getting off. I will be here even though I don’t want to be.” Caesar shrugged.
Shayna’s head snapped back. She couldn’t believe that he had admitted something so detrimental so boldly. If it wasn’t a bright sunny morning, and she wasn’t outside of her job, she would’ve tapped his jaw. She may have been able to control her fist, but her mouth was another story.
“What do you mean you don’t want to get me? You know what, fuck you Ceez! These bitches can have-”
Caesar bent down and stuck his tongue so far down his wife’s throat that she nearly suffocated. He swallowed the insult before she had a chance to finish it. Picking her up by her small waist, Caesar pinned Shayna against the car as he made love to her neck while massaging her dripping wet center.
Shayna’s head fell back, and she moaned loudly. Her husband could find her spot without even trying. Caesar’s third leg was hard as Chinese arithmetic. He wanted to pull his stiffness out and fuck the attitude out of her. Shayna’s excitement saturated his hand. If he hadn’t known better, he would’ve sworn he was squeezing a sponge.
“These bitches can what? These bitches can’t have none of this dick. Why is you talking shit Shay?” Caesar asked as he licked Shayna’s thick bottom lip. He knew why she was on the verge of blowing up. She was so beautiful, and he hated that he was the cause of her insecurities.
“You said you didn’t want to pick me up. What am I supposed to think? How was I supposed to react to that?” Shayna asked emotionally.
“Babe, no I don’t want to pick you up. I wanted you to take the day off. We’re supposed to be on a flight to Antigua. How am I supposed to suck the skin off that pretty pussy if you’re at work? How am I supposed to run my tongue over all that ass? How am I supposed to put these thick thighs over my shoulder and flood your basement?
We’re supposed to be on a beach butt ass naked fucking like Wesley Pipes and Cherokee. You’re supposed to be giving me a son. But for some reason, you’d rather be in teal green scrubs on the white man’s clock. This job don’t give a fuck about you Shay. But for some reason, you’d rather be here instead of celebrating our eighth anniversary. After working ten hours, all I’ma get is that ‘here take it’ sex. That ‘Baby I’m tired, let me hold my leg up and you slide in’ sex. I don’t want that tired no effort pussy,” Caesar stated truthfully.
He didn’t sound angry, but Shayna knew he was. His frustration with all the hours she’d been working was apparent. She felt like shit.
“Caesar, I’m sorry baby. You know I’d rather be with you in Antiqua, fucking like Wesley Pipes and Cherokee. You know I want to give you a son. I’m sorry I’ve been working so many hours, but baby, I need a new car. I can’t keep catching rides. I have work and even though Shania’s only 5, her schedule is full of ballet, karate and swimming lessons.
I run your errands and take care of the things needed for the house. I can’t take care of my family from the back of a cab, Ceez. I saved all my overtime checks. I will have enough for the down payment on the Pathfinder in a few weeks.” Shayna admitted.
The frustration was evident on Shayna’s face. Caesar knew he was wrong for gaslighting her, but he had to get the conversation off him and back onto her. He knew that if the topic stayed on him too long, a real argument would ensue and that’s not what he was in the mood for today. Shayna was his rock, the love of his life, his best friend. Even though she wanted a Pathfinder, it was always a dream of his for them to have matching His and Hers cars.
So, he made it happen. There was no need to tell her that he’d already purchased her a brand-new Isuzu Rodeo, identical to his, as an anniversary gift. She’d see it when he picked her up at 9 pm. He also planned to tell her to keep all the money she saved. Caesar knew he needed to cut his wife some slack. Though he was truly upset that she had to work, he refused to taunt her.
“Stop acting like you can’t trust me, Shayna. I know you get off at 9. I’ll be here at 8:45. I love you. I’ma drop Shania off at Ma’s house when she gets out of school. Don’t work too hard. I want my wife tonight, not the tired registered nurse.” Caesar joked before kissing the top of Shayna’s head, getting in his truck and driving off.
****
July 25, 2000, 11:27pm
“Stop acting like you can’t trust me, Shayna. I know you get off at 9. I’ll be here at 8:45. I love you!” Shayna screamed into Caesar’s voice mail from the bus station near her job. She repeated his sentence with so much aggression that the other would-be passengers walked to the next block to get away from her anger.
She was livid. “You are one lying ass motherfucker Caesar. I have been calling you for damn near three fucking hours. You spewed out all that bullshit this morning about the shit you wanted to do for our anniversary. Some fucking anniversary this turned out to be.
I’m at the Thistle Bus Station since it’s the only form of public transportation that’s available until 2am. Anything could happen to my ass at this wild ass bus station. But your trifling ass don’t give a fuck about that. You’re too busy fucking these dirty ass bitches that don’t really fuck with your trifling ass for real.” Shayna sobbed into the voicemail.
Her heart was thoroughly broken. She didn’t want to believe that the man she had been with since she was nineteen could do her so dirty. She didn’t want to believe that another woman could steal his attention and make him forget about her. But as she stood at the most dangerous bus station in the city in the middle of the night, she knew that someone had.
And sadly, she was correct. As she called her husband, Caesar lay asleep in the bed of Tyra, her older sister. After hours of carnival style hedonistic sex, sheer exhaustion and dehydration had left him in a sex induced coma.
“I always end up fending for myself with you. Wherever you are, I hope it was worth it. I’m done with-”
“Aye, Shay Bird! Is that you?”
The familiar voice halted Shayna’s verbal assault on Caesar’s voicemail. Shayna let out an obvious sigh of relief.
“Oh, my God. Hey Hun. I’m so glad to see you,” she exclaimed as she ended the call. Seeing a friend instantly filled her with relief. The Thistle Bus was a wild place. As a registered nurse for the General Hospital, she had seen her fair share of rape and assault victims from Thistle. The victims’ only crime was the fact that they chose to be a passenger in cesspool on wheels. Shayna wanted no part of it.
“Man, what the fuck are you doing at the Thistle bus station? Does Ceez know you’re out here?”
“Ceez couldn’t care less. He dropped me off to work this morning since my car is broken. He said he’d be at my job by 8:45. But we can see that that was a lie. It’s almost midnight and even though I’m calling, he hasn’t answered his phone or texted back.”
“Damn, that’s fucked up,” He thought, especially since he knew exactly who Caesar was with.
He never understood why some men would risk losing a good woman over a woman that didn’t have a pot to piss in. Tyra was nothing more than a bad debt. He wanted to say something. Offer Shayna some words of wisdom. But he didn’t know what to say.
“Shay Bird, I-”
“Do me a favor; keep the fake sympathy speech,” Shayna joked with a little chuckle. Mainly to disguise the fact that she was about to cry. “Look, it is what it is. Drop me off at my house? I need some rest since I plan to see my divorce lawyer in the morning. Fuck Caesar. I’m done.” Shayna stated as she sat in the passenger seat and pulled the seatbelt across her.
As her body relaxed in the passenger seat, she had no way of knowing that the last time she saw Caesar would be the last time she’d ever see him.
REVIEW: Hwy 725 by Kaylynn Hunt and Octavia Grant
I have never done this before. This is the first time. I’m going to pan Hwy 725 by Kaylynn Hunt and Octavia Grant, and that makes me sad.
So, why the pan? First and foremost is the misogyny. The violence against the women in this book is wanton and sexually driven, hard-core and offensive. The characters are flat and self-centred. Sure, they pay lip service love, but it’s like a smile that never reaches the eyes. It’s a false declaration. I find it difficult to conceive of the fact that this book was penned by two women. That also makes me sad.
The men are either Lotharios or sexual predators. They perpetuate sexual violence against women without any consideration other than their own needs. Our “hero” Caesar Brindle is one-dimensional, and honestly, way too much time is spent talking about his penis—it’s like another character in the book—unnecessary.
I felt no connection to any character in this book. In particular, Caesar and his daughter Shania. Not only is their relationship dysfunctional (nothing sexual, but still very, very wrong), I’m fairly certain both would score extremely high on the PCL-R Psychopathy Test.
When I push past the gratuitous sex and violence, the story itself is left wanting—it doesn’t track. Why would Shayna, Caesar’s wife wait three hours, at night, for her no-good husband to pick her up, then go to the most dangerous place in their town to catch a bus? Why not call an Uber? A friend? But no, she goes to a place where as a nurse, she has personally treated women who were assaulted, raped, and murdered. And after all his promises, why did Caesar chose the night, his wedding anniversary, to again step out on his wife? Was his libido just that strong, that he couldn’t resist the siren call of cheap motel?
And Hwy 725 itself—a highway that leads to the entire country, but is abandoned? Am I missing a metaphor here, like the highway to hell? Roads aren’t closed and abandoned because there is too much crime along them. That makes no sense.
I have to admit that perhaps my unhappiness with Hwy 725 may be cultural—I don’t understand the motivation behind the writing. But it’s not just the violence or the gratuitous sex that I found offensive, it was the lack of dignity shown any of the characters. So, my two star review is a reflection of me and my tastes. Who knows, you may enjoy Hwy 725.